The Books

Previously

by Allan Ahlberg
Illustrated by Bruce Ingman

One Potato Review

The same old fairy tales can get kind of boring sometimes, so it’s refreshing to watch these played for the nonsense they occasionally are, connected by only the flimsiest of happenstance, and a pretty pregnant adverb. Did you know that right before he went trading for that magical bean, Jack was quarreling with his sister about a stupid pail of water? Or that frog on their windowsill was only yesterday a prince riding around in a milk white Mercedes who could trace his narrative evolution back to a certain cleaning lady dancing her socks off at the ball, and gingerbread boy running amuck? Ingman is often at his best when things are getting chased (see The Runaway Dinner), but all of this wild eventfulness yields to a surprisingly quiet - even poignant - conclusion.